This is the recipe my family has been using for gosh knows how many decades. The key I think is to use freshly picked cucumbers, straight to the ice bath. And fresh dill as well, of course. I like it because it is easy to scale from 6 down to 1 quart, or anything between. Looks similar to Chase's, except 2/1 ratio on water/vinegar. * Exported from MasterCook * Brad's Garlic Dill Pickles Recipe By : Brad Lucht Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :1:00 Categories : Canning Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 24 pickling cucumbers -- * see note 12 cups water 6 cups white vinegar 1 cup pickling salt -- rounded 12 heads fresh dill 12 cloves garlic -- cut in half This recipe will make 6-8 quarts, depending upon size of cucumbers. If more than 6 quarts, increase amount of dill and garlic required. Wash cucumbers and remove 1/16-inch from blossom end. Place in a 5-gallon bucket with cold water and lots of ice cubes. Soak in ice water for at least 4 hours but no more than 8 hours. Refresh ice as required. Fill enamel canner with water and bring to a gentle boil; this will take at least an hour. Boil canning jars in canner. Process lids in simmering water for at least 10 minutes. Do not boil lids, as this will compromise the rubber seal. All we want to do is soften the seal. Combine water, vinegar and pickling salt in a large stock pot. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. This will take 20-30 minutes. Make sure pot is covered so that solution does not evaporate. When mixture has come to a boil, remove a jar from the boiling water, making sure all water has drained from the jar. Place 2 half-cloves of garlic and 1 head of dill in the jar. Add 3-4 cucumbers, leaving 1-inch headspace. Top with an additional 2 half-cloves of garlic and another head of dill. Using a canning funnel, fill the jar with hot vinegar mixture, leaving ½-inch headspace. If necessary, wipe jar top and threads clean. Place hot lid on jar and screw on ring a little more than finger tight. Place jar on rack to cool. You should hear the "ping" of the seal within a couple minutes. Repeat with remaining ingredients. After jars have cooled, test seals. Write date of canning on lid using Sharpie. Store in cool, dark place for at least 6-8 weeks. Refrigerate after opening. Pickles will keep for up to 2 years if stored in a cool dry place. This recipe will give a much crisper pickle than those processed with a hot water bath for 15-30 minutes. [Scale recipe as needed. 1/6 cup canning salt = 8 tsp] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTES : *about 4 inches long

I don't understand. You say you didn't want a quick pickle recipe and you didn't want to use a packaged mix but that is exactly what the recipe link you used is - a quick pack using a packaged mix. Maybe there are some basic misunderstandings here. First, there are basically 4 ways to make pickles: fermented, quick pack, refrigerated, or one of the pre-packaged mix. All of them are different, all require different levels of acidity, and they are not inter-changeable. If you want to process them for self storage then you have 3 choices: fermented, quick pack or a mix. If you can't use one of the packaged mixes you are left with fermented or quick pack using your own seasoning mix. If you used the PYO instructions you linked but did NOT use the packaged mix then your pickles are likely unsafe for shelf storage because the mixes contain citric acid for acidification to make them safe. No citric acid means you have to use much more vinegar - like 2x as much. One of the drawbacks of using Ball recipes is that they suggest only their products in the process. I am celiac so I don't use mixes of things. None of the Ball Blue Book recipes even mentions using Ball products. Neither does NCHFP. Dave

I still have the lime here (Mrs. Wages brand) and it did help to hold the cukes a bit firmer for the all vinegar sour pickles. I do not use alum anymore and because it still seems to be linked to aluminium and allzheimers I was not going to even try going any further with it. The lime was used, and the whole cukes were soaked in it for 24 hours in the fridge. I used huge stainless steel bowls that take up a whole shelf in the fridge. I cut off the tips of both ends prior to the soaking, They did get a long rinse afterwards, but even for that, there was a bit of white sediment in the brine after a few days. I also used a bit of tumeric for some color. They were quite pungent. I could have even added a bit of my acid blend and made them even more potent.. My sours are not fermented. They are just 100% plain white distilled vinegar, salt, and a little tumeric. My pickled pepperoncini are also done that way, but without the tumeric. My half sours are just a salt brine with a dash of vinegar added after they sit on the counter overnight. Ive also use the pickling lime for making some sweet mixed, but it was just for the cukes to soak in first. The amount of alum used in a 7 quart batch of sour pickles was something like about 2-3 teaspoons for the toatl amount of vinegar brine. With Pickle Crisp, you do have as slight flavor of chlorine, but that tends to dissipate once they are opened and allowed to 'breath' a few minutes before serving. A chilled pickle always seems to be a bit crunchier than at room temp. FYI> Rumford brand baking powder has no alum in it. Baking soda is basically bicarbonate of soda and nothing else. There is also a bakers ammonia that is still used today for some Swedish cookies and pasteries. I can't taste Pickle Crisp, but that might be because of the heat of the peppers, or the strength of the flavors and spices I use in regular pickles. Mrs. Wages and Ball mixes are the primary ingredients I use when making spiced pickles, and I add extra spices like dill, celery seeds, mustard seeds and such to the various kinds of pickles.There is nothing worse (besides a sour or mushy cuke) than a bland tasting pickle. A recent America Test Kitchen episode dealt with making a flaky pastery for a big berry tart. They mixed the butter and flour to a very course mix, then used their palms to press the flour into the butter lumps. This helped to spread the butter into thinner bits. Ever made puff pastry? I have, with excellent results. MUCH better than the Pepperidge Farm frozen stuff. It does take a long time, a cold work surface, lots of patience and lots of rolling between each chilling.

"3 1/3 c vinegar and 7 1/3 c water" (they are also smaller packs and make less pickles). That is a 50:50 (even a little better than 50:50) mix and would be safe. Erica - it finally dawned on me during supper just how flat out wrong my math was when I said that. It never was my strong suit and age has made it even less so. I still feel the Mrs. Wages mixes are safe to use because of the long established experience with them and their added citric acid, but please disregard my flawed math assurances when making up your mind, ok? Sorry for the confusion. Dave PS: yes on the Annie's salsa question assuming you use the full cup of acid (vinegar, bottled lemon or lime juice).